The Chee Chronicles
by Kaleyanne
Summary: The long, long life and times of Erek. Side story "And Does Everything But Live" added 07/01/2009. Maybe it's not quite as dead as we thought, dear reader?
1. Prologue: Marco

The Chee Chronicles: Prologue: Marco

My name is Marco.

You've definitely heard me say that I'm magnificent, marvelous, etc, etc.

But I'm not magnificent, marvelous or any such thing in history. In history, I'm downright bad.

This was not a good thing. Not a good thing at all. I had a major test coming up, and since my teacher is probably controlled by an evil alien slug (no joke), the test covered everything from Ancient Mesopotamia to World War Two.

Or maybe that's just because it was the semester's final exam...

Nah.

If you want the deal on the whole alien slug thing, head to your local bookstore and pick up a book with the creepy kids turning into animals on the cover. I don't have time to explain.

I figured if I was going to have a prayer of passing this test, I should study. And who better to study with than an android who lived through what you were studying? So I headed to Erek King's house.

Erek King is the aforementioned android. I'm not sure how old he is, but I know he helped build some of Egypt's pyramids. He's an example of highly advanced alien technology. Namely, an example of the highly advanced technology of the Pemalites. But after they were wiped out, he and some of his android friends settled on Earth.

Amazing, huh? They're called 'Chee.' It's a Pemalite word that means 'friend.' The Chee use holograms to give off the image of being perfectly normal human beings. They project an image of a child, and through the years, slowly age the hologram. Then that persona is allowed to 'die' and they start over again. They've been doing this for thousands of years, and they've never been caught.

Well, not until I turned into a dog and realized Erek didn't have a scent...

Anyway. I dashed up the front steps to the King house and rang the bell. As usual, I didn't have to wait long for Mr. King to open the door.

"Hello, Marco. Come on in."

I complied, and the Kings' dogs, a labrador and a terrier, came racing at me, yapping like mad.

"Calm down, Lucky! And you, Marron! Quit trying to bite Marco!" Mr. King scolded. But it didn't really sound like scolding. Mr. King is just too nice to really scold.

I managed to pry Marron's (the terrier) jaws from my shoe. I let her and Lucky sniff me. Satisfied that I was no threat, the two dogs went back to doing whatever dogs do when humans (or androids) aren't looking.

"Sorry about those two," Mr. King said. "They're just so energetic these days. We've been too busy to walk or play with them lately." He sounded guilty. Extremely guilty.

I smiled. "No big deal. My stepmom's toy poodle is just like that. My shoes will never be the same."

Mr. King frowned. "We dislike poodles. Even if they are dogs, we don't think they have any of the Pemalites in them. Too yappy. Too mean."

"So it doesn't bother you that I tend to refer to it as 'Satan with a perm,' does it?"

Mr. King chuckled a little. "Not at all." His face grew a little more serious. "I'm guessing you came to see Erek?"

"Yeah, but not for the reason you'd assume. I have a history exam coming up and I'm totally unprepared."

"Well, you may have to wait awhile. Erek isn't home yet. He should be, he usually is, but he isn't." Mr. King shook his head. "I think Erek's having a bad day," Mr. King said. "You aren't in danger, of course, but he's being more sarcastic than usual."

And _that_ is the difference between Erek and his dad. Or Erek and any other Chee I've met. Mr. King is always insanely, inhumanly, ungodly nice. Nice enough to drive you insane. Come-join-the-Sharing-it's-cool nice.

Erek's a little different. Don't get me wrong, Erek is very kind and friendly. He's a great guy. He's saved my life at least twice. But Erek seems a little more human than the other Chee. I've seen him hopeful, angry, depressed, wistful... He has a decent sense of humor (always a plus in my book), even. He has a personality. I usually have to remind myself that he's an android, because he's always quick to make a semi-sarcastic remark. I really had to kick myself into remembering what he was after he witheld information from us once. Information that would make us doubt what we were about to do. He did it because of a massive grudge he held against our enemy.

It was a very human thing to do.

I was musing over this when the I heard the dogs barking. Moments later, Erek walked in, looking as depressed as I've ever seen him.

And I saw him after he killed maybe a hundred people. I've seen Erek pretty damn depressed.

As soon as he saw me, his face instantly became surprised, then sort of warm. Not the usual friendly, I-wouldn't-harm-a-fly Erek warm. Not even close. But hey. He tried.

I don't know how long Erek's been pretending to be a human. I don't know if it takes any effort for him to project his emotions onto his face. But he tends to turn his hologram off when he starts getting too emotional, so...

"Marco. What's up?"

Casual. Cool. Nothing wrong with me, Marco, I'm as happy as clam.

Yeah. Sure. Right.

"Not much."

"Oh?"

I sighed. Might as well get to business. "Um, you remember our old Social Studies teacher, Ms. Paloma?"

Erek used to go to my school. We had the same Social Studies class almost every year. Plus we'd been in the same class in kindergarten, third grade and fourth grade. So we kind of knew each other, but we'd never been great friends. Sometimes we said "hi" to each other in the halls, and he helped me learn my seven times tables, but that's about it.

"What about her?" Erek was definitely cooler than usual. Not at all himself.

"We-ell, we're having an exam and..."

"You're gonna bomb it?" Erek finished.

"Like Pearl Harbor." I paused. "That WAS bombed, right?"

"Yeah," Erek said. "That's a good start. Now who bombed it?"

"The Germans?"

Erek groaned. "So close, but so, so far. Come on, upstairs, let's go."

I followed Erek up to his room. I'd only ever been in the Kings' living room and the park under their basement (don't ask).

Erek's room was surprisingly normal. Bed with plain blue sheets, desk and chair scattered with Batman comics and sheet music, book case filled with books like _Treasure Island _and _Harry Potter_, stereo, walls covered with posters saying things like "Elvis Lives" and "Save the Whales" and "Let's Go Magic."

"Sit. Get out your textbooks. Now."

I did as he said, remembering Mr. King's warnings. But I couldn't help a quick jab... "What, were you a teacher in a past life?"

He looked at me. "Several, actually. I like teaching. I was Abraham Lincoln's schoolmaster for a short time. Show me what the test is on." I turned to the page, and gave him the book. He immediately began quizzing me.

"What was the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo?"

"Um."

"What does 'Mesopotamia' mean?"

"Er."

"Marco, what started the Civil War?"

"Can I use the fifty-fifty?"

Erek groaned. "Marco, we have a looooong way to go." He pulled a book off his shelf.

"Might as well begin at the beginning." He opened up to a map of Eurasia. "Mesopotamia is right here, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers." He pointed it out to me. "It is the location of the very birth of human civilization. Mesopotamia actually means 'between two rivers.'"

"Very clever."

"Isn't it? People settled here because the rivers made it easier to grow food. The river also provided clay. Mesopotamians wrote on wet slabs of clay. Then, they would wait for the writing to dry. When it did, they would wrap it in more clay to seal it."

"Like an envelope?" I asked.

He nodded. "Exactly."

We went on like that for awhile. But more and more, Erek seemed distracted. Off in another world. I had to draw him back to reality a few times.

After about the fifth time, I asked him what was wrong. He just sort of stared for a moment, blinked and asked me to please repeat myself. I did. Luckily, Erek was listening this time.

"It's nothing. Forget it. You wouldn't understand."

He's right, I probably wouldn't. I'm not Cassie, you know? I can't listen to someone spill their guts and then analyze it and find the solution. Get somebody to spill their plans for world domination and sure, I can analyze it, and often figure out a way to stop it. Give me the ulterior motive of some Visser and I can probably tell you what he's going to do and how. But figuring how to stop someone's depression? Forget it.

Like I said, Erek and I aren't best friends. Far from it. Erek has been alive for thousands of years. To him, a century is as much as a week. Kind of long, and it can seem longer, but no big deal. You'll have plenty more of them. And by the time another century passes, Erek probably won't even remember my name. He's probably known millions of teenage boys like me, and outlived them all by millennia. And he'll outlive me (by far, considering my lifestyle) and go on to know millions of others. I'm no big obstacle in his life. Like some guy you meet at a restaurant or in the check-out line, and chat with for a few minutes. Couple days later, and you forget he ever even existed.

But Erek saved my life. My heart stopped. I had been beaten and sliced so badly that my poor ol' heart just gave out. I was clinically dead. Any doctor would have taken one look at me and said you might as well dig a grave. Erek had generated enough electricity to jumpstart my heart and get me going. He'd covered for me when I was lost in the freezing cold Arctic, on the Hork-Bajir home world, under the ocean getting killed and stuffed by blue meanies, he'd hidden us from Howlers on the Iskoort world, and saved us from Visser Three and the Drode on the Pemalite ship.

And he was at my mother's funeral.

I had to give it a shot.

"Look man, why don't you tell me what's up? Get it off your chest."

Erek chuckled bitterly. "Sure, talking with some kid who can only look forward to living about seventy years is going to help." His eyes were hollow. "Marco, if I thought talking would help my situation, I would have done so a long time ago. But no one understands. No one else is as emotionally complex as I am." Another bitter laugh. "I'm the perfect machine, you see. Because I'm not like a machine at all."

Well. Gee. "So don't talk to a machine. Talk to someone else," I suggested. "Want me to go call Cassie?"

Erek sighed and stood up. "Cassie is a good girl. But she's just a girl. Perfectly normal, with a perfect family. Even with the war, I think there are things she doesn't understand." He looked out the window. "Like loss. The loss of the person you care for above all others."

"Jake's died."

Erek waved a dismissive hand. "And came right back to life, did he not? I mean permanent loss. Loss that will plague you until you die." Erek shook his head. "Even with the best of intentions, all she can offer is pity. And I hate that."

I knew the feeling. When my mother died, everyone said to talk to them. And I did. And I got all this pity. It was awful. Like being smothered, almost. It was like there was something wrong with me. I mean, isn't that why you pity someone?

My mother is either dead or waiting to die. I either killed her or condemned her. The Yeerk in her head, Visser One, was not in the Yeerk High Council's good graces last time I checked. And their idea of an easy punishment is a quick death.

I mentioned this to Erek. I knew loss, firsthand. And I would offer no sympathy. I don't take it and I don't give it. "So try me. Just try me."

Erek smiled grimly. Not bitter anymore. Just grim. "Okay, Marco," he said. His voice had a sarcastic tone. "I'll try you. See, this is the time of year we first landed on Earth. Not that it started then, it began very long before that, but it still puts me into the mind of how my world died..."


	2. Activation

The Chee Chronicles: Chapter One: "Activation"

_Approximately 12,000 Earth years ago..._

My true name, the name I was given at my activation, is Chee-Sendo. All people are named that way. The prefix, your race, and then your personal names. But few use racial prefixes. We believe in equality for all. But still, it is useful when two people of different races have the same name.

My earliest memory is of opening my eyes, and looking upon my creators, Pemalite-Bermez and Pemalite-Lubis. Lubis was closer, and smiling. He spoke to me.

"Hello, _Chee_. May we ask you some questions?"

"You may," I answered.

Bermez smiled, too. "Excellent. Tell me, are you mobile?"

"I am."

"Please demonstrate."

I moved my arms and legs. I bent all my joints. I was in perfect working order, much to Lubis and Bermez's pleasure.

"Very good!" Lubis exclaimed. "You don't even need to be lubricated!" He checked a graphicom screen on his desk. "Next, would you be so kind as to generate a hologram?"

I projected a hologram of Lubis and Bermez for them. They were elated when I could generate exact copies of their voices and make it seem as if the holograms were the real thing.

"Perfect," Lubis said. "Already, I can tell, this one will be wonderful with imagination games and storytelling. Camis will be so pleased! Games of the mind are his favorites.

"But now, my favorite test! Tell me, Chee: why would the _pionee _cross the road?"

I inclined my head; it sounded like an inane question, even for a joke. "Well, why would _you _cross the road?"

Lubis and Bermez cracked up laughing. "CHUK CHUK CHUK!" It was such a pleasing sound to my ears that I joined in. When they had calmed down, I asked what it was. Bermez smiled, and explained that laughter was what you did when you thought something was funny or when you were happy. "We are happy, little Chee, because we have been trying to create a Chee, an android, with a dryer sense of humor. We, Lubis and I, personally find sarcasm very amusing. It makes a person sound more real. More like a true living creature, rather than a machine, when they can find humor in negatives. And we are very pleased with you."

Lubis nodded. "You are the last Chee to be built. Now all of the Pemalites will have a personal _chee_. We are luckyto have succeded."

Bermez snapped his fingers. "That's it! We'll name you 'Chee-Sendo." He grinned. "Does that suit you?"

I returned the smile. Chee-Sendo. It means 'Friend Luck' in Pema. "Yes," I said. "It suits me just fine."


	3. Child

The Chee Chronicles: Chapter Two: "Child"

Lubis left me in the lab with Bermez. He went to fetch his son, Camis. Camis was to be my Pemalite friend. I had been built to be his friend and companion. So, naturally I had to impress him. I was built for him. So, I was a shade nervous.

Bermez noticed. He looked up from his graphicom screen. "Sendo. Calm down." He grinned, and pushed his floppy ears out of his face. Pemalites always had to do that. Some found it greatly annoying, so we Chee figured that was why we were not designed that way.

"I cannot calm down!" I protested. "What if Camis dislikes me? What will I do? Is there a place for unwanted Chee?"

Bermez laughed. "Sendo, there is no such thing as an unwanted Chee. Lubis and I specifically designed you to Camis's likes and dislikes. He will love you. He's been begging Lubis to build him a Chee for some time, now." He clicked off the graphicom, as another Chee entered the room.

The Chee looked about, his/her eyes darting quickly around. (It is impossible to tell an android's 'gender.' Really, seeing as how we have no need for biological reproduction, we don't exactly have genders. It depends on how we are programmed, whether or not we think like a male or female.) The Chee's eyes fell on me. "Hello," he (Ah-ha! A male-sounding voice!) he greeted me. "I am Chee-Rolee. What is your name?"

"Um, Chee-Sendo," I responded. It was awkward, stating my name. I had only had a name for half an hour.

Rolee smiled. "You are newly activated. Do not worry, you will get used to your name, Sendo." His smile widened. "Ah! Yes, you are for Camis, correct? Very good, the child has need for a companion."

"Does he?" I asked. "I am afraid he will not like me." It was nice having another of my own kind to talk to. Already, I was beginning to like Rolee. He was very warm; I didn't realize it then, but those words were forming one of the truest, longest-lasting friendships I have ever experienced.

Rolee laughed lightly. "Camis is incapable of disliking anything. Do you have good holographic systems?" he asked. "Camis will ask you to illustrate his imaginary creatures and stories quite frequently."

Bermez added, "Sendo has some of the most advanced holographic systems around, Rolee. I think you are out-classed."

Rolee wasn't exactly heartbroken. "I do not mind. Better hololgrams will make him a better toy. And, correct me if I am wrong, but shouldn't the best toys go to the best at playing?"

"Definitely," Bermez agreed. "Also--"

Bermez would have continued, had a strange, gray, furry little creature not made his grand entrance.

The strange little creature had the floppiest ears imaginable, and big, wide, golden eyes. The creature's eyes roamed the laboratory until landing on me.

"Papa!" the creature yelled. "Is this my Chee?" The strange little creature barreled at me, full force, deciding not to wait for an answer. "I am Pemalite-Camis," he said formally. Then he went back to being a creature. "What's your name?"

So this was Camis. Energetic. I kind of liked that. Bermez and Rolee were kind, but sedate. I liked the vitality, vivacity, this little creature seemed to radiate. "I am Chee-Sendo."

Camis grinned. "I like that name," he decided. He turned around, and looked at the others present. "If Sendo's name wasn't already Sendo, I'd want my name to be Sendo!" He turned back to me. "Papa says you have excellent holograms. Could you show me one, please, Sendo?"

"Outside," Lubis said, from the doorway. He was grinning like a child with candy.

Rolee noticed it, too. "You are hiding something, Lubis," he observed. "I hope it is amusing."

Camis wasn't paying attention to them. "Hurry, hurry!" the energetic pup exclaimed. "Stand, and walk outside, we're going to meet my friends!"

I paused. I searched my brain (what you might call a CPU) for 'walk.' No data. 'Walk' did not compute.

"What is a 'walk?'" I questioned. "I have no memory of such a thing."

"Lubis!" Bermez yelled. "That's your hidden joke!" He cracked up laughing. "I should have known! You dislike writing the brain software. When you volunteered to..." He let out another burst of laughter.

Lubis grinned. "You got it," he said. He turned to his son. "You will have to teach Sendo to walk." He looked incredibly triumphant. "It's the final test: Can Sendo learn?"


	4. Step

_Edited and modified from its original version, because the author has a bad habit of forgetting what she writes._

The Chee Chronicles: Chapter Three: "Step"

Camis was undaunted. Downright enthusiastic. He had all the confidence in the world in me. Flattering, really, he'd only known me a few minutes.

I was not so confident. 'Learning' was something only true, sentient, thinking creatures could do. An android learning? A synthetic machine learning? Among most species it was impossible.

Rolee must have read my thoughts. "Don't worry. Chee have been capable of learning for some time now. Lubis's wife invented it, and goodness knows, he should have enough practice by now."

"Absolutely," Bermez agreed. "You should only worry if Lubis is and idiot and forgot to progra..." Bermez paused. "You know what? Start worrying."

"Oh, quit. You're scaring Sendo," Lubis said. Pause. "What do you MEAN I'm an idiot?" he yelled.

Rolee shot me an amused smile. "Camis, shouldn't you begin?" he asked. "I am sure we're all very anxious. Sendo most of all."

Camis's big golden eyes blinked. "Oh yes, of course!" Those floppy ears bounced wildly as he nodded. I wondered vaguely if he would ever grow into them. "All right, Sendo, watch me. This is how you walk."

Camis lifted his right lower paw off the ground. "First you pick a lower paw up," he explained slowly. He lowered his paw to the ground a short distance from him. "Then you put it down at a distance." He picked up his other paw and repeated the process. "An' then jus' repeat that. And you walk!" he said cheerfully. He demonstrated a few times.

"Very good, Camis," Rolee said. "Now it's Sendo's turn."

I sort of stalled for a little while. "Pick up, put down? There has to be some distance?"

"Yes, that's right," Camis said, no trace of impatience in his voice. Just the sweet music of youth and happiness. It vitalized me. It made me, a cold pile of metal, an android, a machine, feel real. This child's happiness made me feel alive.

I wondered if he would be happy if I tried to walk. Or better, if I actually managed it? It might just be worth it, if I could keep this innocent, happy creature happy...

I lifted my paw, and paused. Everyone held their breath (Well, except Rolee. Chee don't breathe.). I set my paw back on the ground, a few inches away.

Camis cheered. "Yes! Perfect, Sendo!" The little one's bright eyes shone like a sun. His ears flailed madly as he hopped up and down. His muzzle drew back in a huge grin.

All that and just for setting my paw down?

Rolee turned to me, looking pleased. "It's good to see then happy, isn't it?" he asked quietly.

"Now, that wasn't hard, was it?" Bermez asked. "Just repeat that."

I did. Lift up my paw, and set it down a little ahead of me.

And I walked! I had moved almost a foot of distance! I had done it!

Lubis, Camis, Bermez and Rolee all cheered. "Absolutely wonderful!" Camis exclaimed. "Now, try it quicker! Don't pause!"

I did what Camis said. Lift up, set down, lift up, set down... I walked around the laboratory with little to no grace at all, but who cared? I was walking! I could walk! I had learned to walk! I had done what only sentients could do! I had learned! I was as good as any sentient creature in the galaxy!

As I continued my first journey, I got to thinking: What if I sped up a little? What would happen if I put some force into it?

I tried it. I put more distance between my steps. I quickened them. I pushed off harder from the ground, and before I knew it...

"He's running!" Lubis cried. "Look at that, he just learned to walk and now he's running?" Lubis laughed. "Bermez, my dear brother, who's an idiot now, huh? I not only programmed him to be capable of learning, I programmed him to be capable of curiosity, intelligent thought, and to be able to solve problems!" Another gleeful giggle. "Only a few Chee are that advanced!"

"Yes, yes," Bermez muttered. "Just Rolee, Onanee, Malon, Ionos, and Niomee." Bermez straightened his back. "And, if you recall, I programmed Onanee, Malon, and Ionos. Rolee is yours, and Niomee was programmed by Dach." He smirked. "And I distinctly remember my notes on Chee-Onanee missing... and you were the one who took them."

Lubis blushed a little. "Guilty."

Rolee grinned. "Then, you were the one who took Chee-Ionos's plans after I was finished, were you not?"

"Guilty again," Lubis sighed. "Okay, maybe I am an idiot."

"Cha," Bermez chuckled. "You were smart enough to know who _wasn't_ an idiot."

Camis interrupted, "Now can we go out and play? I want to show Sendo off!"

Lubis nodded. "Go ahead, and show off my handiwork." Pause. "Based on Bermez's notes," he added reluctantly.

"Come on, Sendo!" he called, dashing out the door. "Run carefully, we'll be in trouble if we break something."

We were in the mainroom, when another Chee stopped us. "And where are you off to?" she (according the higher-pitched voice) asked.

Camis groaned. "Niomee! This is Sendo, he's my Chee, tell Mama I love her, I want to show my friends, I love you too, I promise I'll clean my quarters, you and Mama are the greatest, may we please go play?"

Chee-Niomee giggled. "You are such a flatterer, Camis!" She smiled. "Girls will love it." She looked at me, and smiled again. "You look like a good model," she decided. "Lubis and Bermez's work?" I nodded. "I'll get Dach - Camis's mama - to double-check you. Never know what Lubis will forget. Now go, run along and play. I hear young Pemalites and childish Chee at the door!"

"Thank you, Niomee, love ya lots!" Camis called over his shoulder. He flung the door open, and revealed four people, two Pemalites and two Chee.

The taller Pemalite was male, you could tell because his fur was a darker gray. His ears were less floppy than most, and his eyes were a light purple. He drew his muzzle back in a bright grin.

"So, Camis has gotten himself a Chee!" the tall Pemalite said. "It's about time, since his father and uncle, Bermez, are the premiere engineers and builders when it comes to robotics." The tall male rested a hand on the Chee at his side. "I am Pemalite-Coli and this is Chee-Onanee. We live just a few patches away, to the west."

"And we live about that far away, to the north," piped up the other Chee, her voice female. "I am Chee-Malon."

"And I am Pemalite-Labra," the smaller, female Pemalite said. Her voice sounded pleasant, and her coat was sleek and glossy. Labra's eyes were a vivid green.

Onanee looked at me curiously. "What is your name?" Another female.

Camis spoke up. "He's Chee-Sendo and he's very smart!" Camis proceeded to tell my walking story.

Everyone laughed a little. Malon turned to me. "It's not a big deal," she said pleasantly. "Lubis and Bermez -- they always program their Chee without some basic fundamental mechanic."

"Right," Onanee said. "They use it to test if we can learn, and as a big joke. They are always trying to top each other with what they leave out. I could not speak, for example."

"That was amazingly funny," Coli snickered. "Lubis was yelling, and pleading with Onanee, trying to get her to answer, and she tried, but she couldn't..." He smiled fondly at the memory. "He was so angry when Bermez cracked up laughing, and explained... That's how Onanee got her name. They thought it would be funny, you see, to call her 'loud laughter.'"

"And it is very funny," Malon continued, "because Onanee is not very loud at all!"

Labra giggled a little, before picking up with: "Unless she is being dramatic, because then is when she makes us laugh the loudest!"

Onanee gave them all a reproachful look. "Why is it," she implored, placing a forepaw to her forehead, "that I allow myself to be, not only seen with, but degraded by, such commoners?" She sighed loudly, and made a big deal of shaking her head, earning herself a good round of laughter, even from me.

Coli looked at me. "I guess Onanee is not losing her charm!"

"Or lack there of!" Malon joked.

Camis's big golden eyes looked up at me, and rolled. "They're idiots," he said, "But they are amusing ones, are they not?"

I chuckled. "Cha, I could not think of better entertainment than being around these fools."


	5. Jokes

The Chee Chronicles: Chapter Four: "Jokes"

Ten years later...

Third hour before RS rising.

Time to wake Camis up.

After a shutdown, a resting period, it takes a while for my cryscom, my brain/computer, to start working right... Early in the morning is when I think the Pemalites and other biologicals have it easy. They don't have to wait for their brains to boot up every morning.

I waited a few minutes (translation: until I could form coherent thoughts worthy of a sentient) before striding over to Camis's bedside. I tapped his shoulder (not too hard, of course), and waited.

"It can't be time to wake up, Sendo," he said sleepily. He dared to peek at me through a golden eye. "I just went to sleep."

"Yeah, five hours ago."

"Exactly! Let me sleep."

I smiled. We had this same conversation every morning. And yet, I never grew tired of it. "Sorry. I will carry you if I have to."

"No, you won't," Camis said, opening both of those charismatic eyes now. "You can't. I'm too big and heavy. On a space station, where the gravity is less, perhaps, but here?" He laughed.

It was true. Our home planet had very high gravity. So a Pemalite on the homeworld is a very heavy thing. Even for an android. But no matter. My remark had fullfilled his purpose.

"If you can laugh, you have been mostly pleasantly awoken!" I sing-songed the famous saying as loudly as I could.

"OH!" Camis exclaimed. "I can't believe I fell for that!" He groaned. "Oh, I dislike you a LOT right now!" He jumped out of bed. "Now I have to get up! If I don't, Mama and Niomee will get up here and force me... I should reprogram you, you know." He tried to push back his ears, which were as big as ever, but they just bounced into their place.

"Mmm, no, don't you dare," I said, starting into the front room. "You can't even reprogram a pockecom. Which reminds me..." I pulled the small computer out of my chest compartment. "Finished this last night," I said.

Camis had crashed the modem (again). So I'd spent a while fixing it... Having a computer for a brain makes it wonderfully easy to understand them. It's almost like I can speak to them. Camis's pockecom had "told" me how and why Camis kept breaking it. And so, I had designed a series of viruses and firewalls to keep Camis from using those programs again. And I expressly forbade him to even LOOK at my programming. I love the kid, but I don't want my memory deleted or something.

Camis laughed a little. He was definitely awake now. "Yes, yes, I know: I could break your cryscom by thinking too hard." Pause. "Speaking of cryscoms..."

"No," said Niomee, by way of greeting. She and Dach were waiting for us.

Dach, Camis's mother, smiled. "Sorry. But if you can't handle a pockecom, a cryscom would be too much for you."

"But Mamaaaaa... You're the greatest mama ever. You're so smart and talented, and you..."

"Save it," Niomee the Not Nice said. She was designed to be the perfect balance for Dach. Witty and assertive, because Dach was shy and meek.

This is not to say that Dach is useless or dull. No, Dach is reputed to be the smartest Pemalite around. She designed, built, and programmed Niomee herself. Niomee was the premiere "Learning" Chee. Dach shared the "Learning" ability with Lubis and Bermez, and they turned out Rolee, Ionos, Malon, Onanee and myself. Dach's specialty isn't robotics; it's computers. That's why she was able to create the "Learning" programming code. She told me once, "All learning requires is a brain, and that's just like a computer."

Besides that, she's the nicest person you'll ever meet.

Camis sighed and sat down. "This is one I will never win," he said sadly. The scent of Dach's cooking perked him up. "Ooh, is that baked vana melon? I take back all the not nice things I was thinking, Mama. You're still the absolute greatest, best, most amazingly pretty..."

I glanced at Niomee, who was smiling slightly. We don't need to eat for sustenance, so we take the time to talk. Me and Niomee and Rolee. "It never gets old, does it, Sendo?" she asked. "Only more and more cute."

"Yes," I agreed. "And amusing. Very amusing. Almost as amusing as when you and Rolee argue as if you're married."

Niomee laughed, and touched my shoulder. "Sometimes I wonder if we might as well be!" Her laughter died. "It is a shame..."

She didn't finish. She didn't need to. Niomee and Rolee were the only Chee in the history of our existence to 'fall in love,' as biologicals say. Some said it wasn't possible. "Chee are friends, and good, smart, thinking people, but they're still androids." Sentience is one thing. The emotion of love is another entirely.

I sometimes wondered if I'd ever really love someone. I doubted it. Seriously doubted it. Who was there to fall in love with? Malon? Onanee? Labra? Definitely not.

"Ooh. Do I smell vana melon?" Lubis asked, walking in.

"I don't know. Do you?" I retorted.

Lubis laughed. "I did too well with you, Sen," he said affectionately. "Mind handing me the lapcom over there?" He pointed to the counter.

"All right," I said, easily walking over. Lubis's lapcom was an interesting thing. He had glued sheets of a primitive plant-fiber substance all over it. The sheets were differenet colors and all had funny little sayings or jokes on them. Lubis called the sheets 'paper.'

I read one of the 'papers' aloud as I carried the com back to my creator. "If you spend your entire life laughing, then you have truly lived."

"That's a new one," Dach remarked, "Where did you hear it?"

"Dalmshun, my darling sister. I always liked her better than Bermez. Anyway, Sendo, will you pull up my files on the _Fairplay_?"

That's the Zero-space ship he was building with Bermez and Dalmshun.

"Okay..." I turned the lapcom around. Searching for something. Something that was obviously not there. "Um, Lubis, there's no interface panel."

"Oh?" he said, looking up from his serving of melon. It is almost sad how biologicals can be distracted by the need to consume food and water. And impractical. I mean, it makes no sense to drop everything and stuff heated plants into yourself every few hours for energy and strength. A good internal power source makes life so much easier.

"That's right. No panel."

Lubis drew his muzzle back and smiled. "Sendo. Just use the keyboard."

"Keyboard?" I echoed.

"Yeah, you know, that little board with the keys?" Camis said, ever-so-unhelpfully. "Duh."

Keyboard. Yeah.

I wasn't afraid of the keyboard, but I don't often use it. When I use a com, I just press my hand against the interface panel, and I can control the com as if it were a part of me. My abilities are the com's, and the com's are mine.

Keyboards are for biologcals who can't 'speak' to coms.

Not highly advanced Chee who are often called on to fix coms.

Yes, I have an ego, but Ionos's is much, much worse.

And my creator was going to reprogram me if I messed up his precious com...

At least it wasn't his high-resolution graphicom...

"Want me to do it?" Niomee asked, knocking me out of my mental stalling.

"No," I said firmly. "I can use a com, Niomee!"

I've been told I'm a little impulsive. Childish. Stubborn. Even a little proud.

People who tell me that sure are right.

I turned on the power. I moved the little thing in the shape of a paw to the folder marked 'Fairplay.' Easy. No big deal. I wouldn't break it.

A com's voice. Computers speak in a special kind of voice that only reaches the mind on. Lubis calls it thought-speak, and it's really amazing, because it's universal. It's not just words, but thoughts and symbols and feelings all somehow get through. He says the knowledge to program it into a computer was given to us by the Ellimist. Welcome to the files on the Z-space ship_ Fairplay!_ This ship will be finished soon and when it is, we hope you will join us for a deep space voyage full of games, laughter, good friends and wonderful meals. However, the builders wish this ship to remain secret until the unveiling. If you are not authorized, please close your eyes and this file. If you are authorized, please type in the number six.

I typed six and...

"YAH!" I yelped. "Ellimist, what was THAT?"

An electrical charge (not a painful one, not even for a biological) had shot through my fingertips and straight through me! Not painful, but certainly shocking (no pun intended).

Lubis, Dach, Camis, Rolee, and Niomee all laughed.

"Should've heard yourself!" Camis chortled. "Niomee, Rolee, you recorded that, right?"

"Of course," Rolee said in his annoyingly calm way. It isn't usually annoying, but it was just then. I felt dizzy from the charge. My internals had biefly shut down to avoid being damaged or overloaded. And then they turned right back on, so I had to wait for some of them to reboot. Running on half my systems always makes me feel like I can't stand up straight.

Rolee played back the audio of my yell, and I guess it was funny. Okay, it was extremely funny, but I was too annoyed to laugh. "That wasn't nice so early in the morning," I complained.

Lubis chuckled some more. "Maybe not for you!" Of course, everyone laughed again at that.

"Seriously, I'm sorry, Sendo. But I've been dying to try that gag out and when you decided to be a smart mouth..."

I got the picture. Didn't mean I wouldn't get him back, though.

Camis and I left after that. School. Yes, even we Chee had to go. Don't ask me why. We could've just had what we needed to know programmed into our memory banks, and in the end, most did. But we "Learning" Chee got the full, awful experience.

That's advanced? Cha.

For once, we got there with time to spare.

Coli noticed. "Well, who are you? Not Pemailte-Camis and Chee-Sendo! They're always late! You must be unpleasant clones!"

"Cha. Cha. And just for good measures, cha," Camis replied, smiling. "Sendo got zapped and was too scared to stay around Papa any longer."

"You wish!"

"No, I wish you wouldn't say 'you wish' like that."

Labra shook her head. "Males. And Chee programmed to think like them." She turned to Malon and Onanee. "Where is the logic in that?"

"Well, they were programmed by males," a voice said.

Coli groaned softly. "Poodel. Great."

"And where there's Poodel, there's Ionos," I added unhappily.

"And not very smart ones, either," Ionos said, as if on cue.

Poodel sauntered up, her shaggy, light gray headfur catching just enough red sunlight to shine. Her admittedly pretty violet eyes shone with a certain air of superiority. But she looked like a vulnerable princess when she smiled.

Ionos had that same air, and she, too, gleamed in the early, pale sunlight. Newly polished, I figured. New whitecap, also, I noted. Chee-Ionos was always being advanced. She started out as a Lubis & Bermez project, as a present to Poodel, because Bermez is friends with Poodel's parents. And since said parents are fairly well-off, their children and Chee are always state-of-the-art and very advanced.

Anyway, I suppose Ionos and Poodel were very nice people, since they both had lots of friends. But still, we didn't get along. Disagreed a lot. Now, I see that the things we disagreed on as petty, but then...

"You know, Ionos," Coli began, "you were programmed by Lubis and Bermez."

Ionos smiled. "Well, I've had the kinks worked out since then," she declared. "Not only did they forget to program me to walk, but they forgot my logic centers!"

"That explains a lot," I quipped. Camis and Coli grinned.

"She's been reprogrammed since then, Sendo," Poodel said, rolling her lovely eyes. "Duh."

"Hey, Sen, Coli, everyone, we'd better go," Onanee said. "We need to be in the Labs soon."

Onanee. Ever the peacemaker.

"See you in Com Studies, Poodel!" Camis called cheerfully as we left.

"Just don't blow the place up!" Poodel returned. She and Ionos giggled.

"Onanee, why couldn't you let the males continue bothering them?" Malon complained. "It was getting interesting."

"Because we DO need to be in our Labs!" she exclaimed. "Look! The Yellow Sun has almost risen!"

"Oh, no, I was supposed to be in for a special session before then!" Coli groaned.

Onanee turned to him, "Good! I hoped you learned your lesson, because Poodel and Ionos aren't worth it."

Coli grinned his idiot grin again. "Yes they are! I had tons more fun joking with them than I would have had memorizing physics formulas!"


	6. Aliens

The Chee Chronicles: Chapter Five: "Aliens" 

Since every sentient creature in the civilized galaxy has attended some form of school, I'll spare you the not-so-pretty details.

The only noteworthy thing that happened was Ionos stepped onto a square of the floor that I had 'accidently' dropped some sticking adhesive onto. The same sticking adhesive Lubis used to keep parts of his _Fairplay_ together.

I think she's still stuck.

So I was pretty pleased as Camis and I walked home, both of us laughing like crazy.

"She screamed so loud!" Camis snickered. "I am so glad you weren't punished. It's a good thing your joke wasn't harmful."

"It can't be. Couldn't have been. Never will be," I said. "I cannot harm anything." I paused. "Except Ionos's pride!"

Camis laughed again. "Wish I was half as... uh-oh..."

I followed his gaze. "Wha-oh? ...Oh."

Rolee was waiting for us.

Rolee is a nice guy. Really. Calm, clever, nice to fault. Never gets angry. He's the calm to Lubis's storm. And Niomee's. And mine. He's generally unflappable. Nothing bothers him, nothing surprises him. It's weird.

But my Ellimist, he did not look pleased.

We Chee don't do facial expressions. We can't. Maybe a smile, but that's it. We rely on the sound, pitch or quality of our voices to convey emotion. Or body language. The way we lean against a wall or press our forepaws together all means something.

Rolee might as well have a big, bright hologram over his head screaming "YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!"

"Oh dear," Camis said. "Who do you think told him?"

I didn't really care. I was busy trying to think up an excuse to get myself out of there.

"Chee-Sendo," he said as we approached.

"Hey, Rol," I said brightly. "You know what? I left my holoslides at school. I better go get them..." I spun around like nobody's business, and moved to dash away...

Unfortunately for me, I'm not very fast.

Rolee is.

And he's smart, too.

"Sendo. Your holoslides should be in your memory banks," he said, faintly amused. Very faintly. I was still in trouble, but my more childish exploits always amuse him.

"You see what I mean?" I said lamely. "I forgot."

Rolee focused his blank eyes on me. I'm told being stared at by an android is very unnerving. Like I said, we don't do expressions. Our eyes are pretty much metallic marbles. Camis and I had staring contest once, and he said it was extremely creepy. He says it's like we're blind, not actually seeing what we're looking at. Or seeing through it. Very unnerving, he said.

The kid wasn't wrong.

Rolee must have practiced or something, he was creeping the circuitry out of me.

I wished he'd stop. I like my circuitry where it is, thanks.

"Sendo," he said finally. "Why did you do that to Chee-Ionos?"

"Why not?" I replied. "She's annoying. She had it coming. Besides, remember when she reprogrammed my speech synthesizer?"

"I do," Camis giggled. "You talked like that singer, Pemalite-Pekkinez, for a week."

"Granted," Rolee said. "But that's not the point. I think she's still stuck."

Camis tried his hardest not to smile... and failed miserably. "That's what we hop... er, thought."

I focused my dead-end eyes on him, wishing he'd shut up.

Rolee pressed his wrists together. The right hand of a Chee has the outward interface abilities, while the left is for inward interfacing. What Rolee was doing was quietly reprogramming a piece of himself. Nothing important. You need a crystal computer to take out the big stuff. Likely, he was just altering his mood. Like when a biological consumes medication or mild intoxicants.

Truth be told, he dislikes Ionos same as we do. But since he's Adchee, and I'm Juchee, he thinks he has to be responsible and stuff. All it means is he's programmed to think like an adult male, and I'm programmed to think like a juvenile male. When Camis is older, my mind will be altered, so that I'll be Adchee, too. Probably, anyway. Lubis and Bermez are pretty sure that the "Learning" program will make this obsolete. But nobody knows, because no "Learning" Juchee are that old yet.

"Dalmshun will be over tonight," Rolee remarked.

"Goody, I miss Auntie Dal," Camis said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I want to see if she has anymore news on Zero-space."

Space travel, aliens, and the like were sort of my hobby. I was hoping to visit new planets one day. Nice ones, with creatures and plants and lovely oceans. I wanted to be a deep space voyager.

Dalmshun was a Z-space theorist, not a mechanic, like her older brothers. The three of them were working together to build a big, comfortable Z-space ship. No one had made planetfall in half a century, and they were hoping to revive the tradition. The Ancient Laws, set by the Ellimist, the Pemalite creation god, command the Pemalites, and, by extension, we Chee, to spread through the galaxy, healing disaster and leaving life in our wake. It's written as a lovely poem, and if it wasn't seven pages long, I'd recite it.

"Dal says she has big news," Rolee said, smiling at me. "I doubt it's about Z-space, though. We've been studying Z-space for a few million years. I'd say we know everything about it."

"What's there to know?" Camis asked. "It's a big, fluffy, white barrel of nothingness. Anti-space. Anti-matter. Anti-everything. Technically, nothing should exist there. Technically, it shouldn't exist, period. Theoretically, it really doesn't. Theoretically, it only exists because we force it to."

"Yes," I agreed. "It doesn't exist unless you force it to. Z-space only exists if you know it's there. It's like putting a lakka in a box and hiding it. Then, you ask a person who doesn't know the lakka is there to go into the room. If the person doesn't know the lakka is there, does it still exist? But knowing the lakka, and Z-space, is there, forces it to exist in a dimension where we can access it."

Rolee seemed surprised that we were actually paying attention in school. It was no big deal, really. Just basic Quantum physics.

* * *

"Very nice," Dalmshun said. Camis and I had just repeated our explanation of Zero-space. She was pretty pleased, and spent a few momens praising us. This was after, of course, she gave Camis a cryscom (Rolee, Niomee and I were not nearly as pleased as Camis... we feared for our dear programming) and I myself recieved a very new program... MindBook v1.0. The mind reading program. I was incredibly pleased. It was only to be used for good things, of course. To see if someone was being dishonest or to divine information from someone not in the proper condition to give it. 

I think Niomee and Rolee were more worried about my gift than Camis's.

It wasn't that big a deal. I only wanted it because Ionos wouldn't shut up about being able to read minds. Her superiority complex was driving me insane. I was hoping I could shut her up.

Hey, I can dream.

The biologicals had their dinner, and we Chee (including Dalmshun's Reeko and Bermez's Dano) had our usual chat.

Reeko and Dano are not "Learning" Chee.I don't know why, I guess Dal and Bermez are happy with them the way they are. Which I findmost admirable, since they haveeverything it would take to do so, withno problem.Reeko and Dano aregood guys, though. Sometimes a little dull. But loyal, never-tell-a-lie, I-will-not-tell-Dal's-news kind of guys are frustrating.

"Just a liiiiiiiittle hint," I begged. "Please, Reeko? Pretty please?"

Reeko is even better at unnerving glares then Rolee. Shock horror, I know.

"Now, Sendo, if I did that, I would be depriving Dalmshun of the joy she will gain by telling you her news." He sounded sincere. I respected him for that. I really did. But HE should respect MY curiosity, too!

Niomee gave him her version of the My Eyes Are Blank And Creepy Glare. "Cha. I bet you don't know yourself."

"Ah, well," Reeko stuttered. "Darn. Got me there."

Rolee laughed. "I suppose even you may distort the truth, Reeko." He smiled, and looked at Niomee. If he could, I'm positive his face would have had a very fond, very loving look on it. And very happy. Very, very happy. "No one bests Chee-Niomee," he bragged.

"I know that better than anyone," I joked.

Niomee's voice had a high, embarrassed quality to it. "Quit that."

"And she's modest," I added. "I never knew that."

"Probably because I'm not!"

Thefive of us laughed.

Apparently, Dal had been listening to us. She smiled at me. "You all really want to know?"

"Yes!" Camis practically shrieked. He noticed a disapproving blank glare from Niomee. "Oops. I mean, yes, I would like to know very much, Auntie." He grinned at Niomee. That big, happy, idiot grin. It could melt a heart of steel.

And a person of steel. Niomee smiled.

Dalmshun chuckled at these going-ons. "Wish I had a child." She blinked and shook her head. "Anyway..." She drew herself up importantly. "I was star-gazing night before last, when I noticed a very odd star."

"Did you now?" Lubis said, humoring her. She loved to draw out her stories.

"Yes, I did," Dalmshun said. "It was brighter than the Yellow Sun, and much closer. And fast! It appeared to be streaking toward us with the utmost fervor."

I caught Bermez pressing his forepaws together. He doesn't like the way Dalmshun always embellishes things. Dano was smiling, though. He finds Dal's stories highly amusing.

"Is it going to hit, Dalmshun?" Dano asked, egging her on. Reeko gave him a quick smile, thanking him. Dalmshun loves to have her stories interrupted with questions and the like.

Dalmshun smiled radiantly. "I wasn't sure. So, I got out my high power looking-scope, and looked closer... and closer... and closer..."

Bermez rolled his eyes. "My patience is thinning faster... and faster... and faster..."

Dal glared at him. I pitied her for not having dead eyes. Reeko took away that pity by glaring at him for her.

"It wasn't a star, okay?" Dal said huffily, incredibly put out. "It was a ship! New alien lifeforms, whose technology is not documented, will be here in eight double days."

We stared in shock.


	7. Finally

THE CHEE CHRONICLES: CHAPTER SIX: FINALLY  
  
Camis and I spent the next weeks bouncing between Dalmshun's home, and the Arbor of Celebrations. Life was more exciting than ever, and I felt like a lucky little android. Surely this was my ticket to being a great space explorer. If I could befriend these aliens, maybe they would take Camis and I to their homeworld. We could write about them and educate the others...  
  
Big dreams for such a young 'droid, wouldn't you agree?  
  
I can't help it.  
  
This was the most exciting thing that had happened in all my memory. No one from my world had made contact in decades, maybe centuries. I never knew for sure.  
  
So when the leader of the Pemalites and Chee asked Niomee and Dach to help him greet the aliens, you can imagine how Camis, Lubis, and I reacted.  
  
"Please, please, please, Mama? Pleeeease? I love you."  
  
"Dear, my dear Dach, my sweet wife, and the other half of my heart...?"  
  
"Niomee?" I begged. "Please, may I meet the aliens with you? I beg, Niomee, I grovel..."  
  
I glanced back to where Camis and Lubis were working Dach. Camis was the original master of the puppy dog eyes, and he was getting real reactions out of his mother. She was wincing, and cringing and really close to giving in. I turned back to Niomee, ready to give her all I had...  
  
"Don't even try it, wonder-droid." She smiled the weird-metal smile she smiled. "You are not stealing my glory."  
  
"Ni-o-meeeeeeee..."  
  
"No, it's final," Dach said, in a very parental, motherly voice. She dragged her eyes away from her child to focus on her husband. Lubis wasn't nearly as cute as Camis. He was easier to resist. "No. The Great Dane might not appreciate having the whole family there. He asked me, so that would be best."  
  
"Awwwww."  
  
"Lubis, love, give it a rest."  
  
-----------------------------------------------  
  
The estimated Day of Arrival dawned with both suns dancing happily. The entire community was bursting with excitement. Every pair of eyes shone with anticipation.  
  
Our home was probably the brightest of all. Niomee was shining herself, and Rolee was oiling her. Dach was fluffing her fur. Camis was attempting to 'upgrade' me, but I was having none of it. Last time he tried, I couldn't walk for a week.  
  
Poodel's family had been in charge of decorating the Arbor of Celebrations. And as much as I hated to admit, it looked lovely. The Joii trees were edged with a lurid pink crepe paper. The pink Pahhy flowers all had gentle green spotlights shining on them, reflecting the sweet morning dew.  
  
By the way, Poodel's favorite colors are pink and green.  
  
The Pemalite leader and his Chee companion greeted Dach and Niomee when we made it to the Arbor.  
  
"Welcome, Chee-Niomee and Pemalite-Dach," the Great Dane said. "I thank you most sincerely for helping me to welcome our friends."  
  
"It is our great honor," Dach murmured. The Dane offered her his paw, and she took it gracefully. Winking at a pouting Lubis, she allowed the Dane to escort her to the center of the Arbor, where a landing surface had been erected by Bermez.  
  
Niomee hung back for a second, shooting a glance at Rolee. "You all..." She frowned, suddenly, her blank eyes would have widened, I expect, if they could. "Stay here, okay? You, too, Camis and Sendo."  
  
"Sure, Niomee," Camis grinned. "Until their children come out, and then I'm convincing them to take me to their homeworld! Right, Sendo?"  
  
"They'll take me first," I said smartly. "Because I'm advanced technology, and you're just a dull old biological. But maybe if you're nice to me, you can come, too."  
  
"Sendo, you're meeeeeeeeeeeeeeean..."  
  
Rolee shook his head at us. "Go, Niomee, and enjoy your spotlight. I'll keep an eye on them."  
  
"Thanks, Ro."  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
We waited in the Arbor for I'm not sure how long. It felt like hours, but Onanee said I was exaggerating. I had a few games and books stored on me, and we passed time by playing around with them. I was amazing the biologicals around me by reading and comprehending every single one of the five hundred eighty-six "Pemalite Space Encounters" advanced chapter books when it happened.  
  
"I see them! I see them!" Dalmshun cried. "Fully and completely without my telescope, may I add!"  
  
"She's right!" Coli screeched. "There they are!"  
  
Onanee gripped my paw. "Oh my goodness, Sendo," she murmured.  
  
"Nothing but goodness," I whispered back.  
  
A large, black space ship was descending from the heavens. It almost looked heaven—sent, in that glorious moment. It was circular, something like a Skrit Na ship. A tall cone shape, with the point at the bottom, fixed to the circle's center, protruded from the middle. On the base of the cone, high in the air, what appeared to be an antenna extended. A bright red light blinked merrily from the point of the antenna.  
  
Everyone in the crowd was excited. Everyone was talking about the friends they would make, and what they would learn. We were certain these aliens could teach us something, a game at the least, and the secrets of the future at the most.  
  
We were certain these aliens would change our world, and better our lives. And forever in our hearts, the beautiful memories we would make with them would shine and comfort. Especially for us Chee, who could never forget.  
  
Oh, how I would love to go back in time to that one moment, that last moment of my childhood innocence! How I long for the sweet anticipation I remember so clearly...  
  
The strangely beautiful spacecraft descended where we had prepared for them. Onanee and I were holding on to each other's hands. I could hear Malon snickering, and planning to tease us for all our days, but I really could not care less.  
  
The bottom of the cone, which was technically the top of the ship, if you recall, lifted to allow the aliens access to our world. A sort of luminescent gangplank extended from there, down to where Dach, Niomee and our leaders stood. Dach looked radiant in that moment, the sun shining off of her fur... and newly polished Niomee, I thought was going to fall over in anticipation.  
  
Finally, the aliens appeared. Eight of them.  
  
Their skin was like molten lava, mostly black with thick veins of red peering through. They were very vaguely humanoid. Very vaguely. I couldn't see their paws clearly, but I saw something else strange: it appeared their torsos could revolve around independently of their hind legs.  
  
Lastly, and most strange of all, they were each graced with two large eyes. Beautiful blue eyes, a delicious gerre's-egg blue. And purely blue. No sign of pupil, iris or white. Just... blue.  
  
Or emotion. Blank, blank, unseeing, unfeeling blue. Their eyes were duller and creepier than my own.  
  
Camis shivered next to me. "Their eyes..."  
  
"I know. Hush."  
  
If the bluer-than-blue, blanker-than-blank eyes of these strange creatures frightened our Great Dane and Dach, they didn't show it. Rather, they approached the aliens, armed with language translators.  
  
"Greetings, my friends," the Dane began. "Welcome to the Pemalite homeworld. I am the Pemalite leader, and by extension, the leader of the android race here, the Chee."  
  
"We are Howlers," the speaker of the band said, shockingly in our own language. He leveled that unfeeling gaze onto the Great Dane, and held up something that looked like a primitive Skrit Na device called a 'weapon.'  
  
He held the 'weapon' level with the Great Dane's heart, and pulled a primitive part of the 'weapon' that created a catalyst to work it, called a trigger.  
  
"Now die."  
  
------------------------------------- Um, don't kill me? And go hug Acey Dearest. She sat with me on MSNIM as I wrote this, keeping me on track. She also made me feel guilty, one day when we got to discussing fics that are left unfinished.  
  
Next part? Feel free to nag me. I need a good kick to keep me going. My e- mail address is in my profile. 


	8. Artificially

The Chee Chronicles: Chapter Seven: Artificially  
  
"Die?" Labra whispered. "How can they die?" She looked at us each in turn, confusion plainly written across her furry face. Her floppy ears twitched lightly.  
  
"No idea," Camis answered. "He's got some sort of... what's-it-called... a..."  
  
"A weapon," Rolee answered. "Primitive races use it to hurt things."  
  
"I'm confused," Labra said. "Why would anyone invent something to hurt something?"  
  
"He's using the weapon," I observed. "The Great Dane is falling. Why is he falling?" I looked to Rolee, eternally with the answers. "Why's the Dane falling?"  
  
"Is that how people die?" Coli asked. "They fall?"  
  
"I... don't know..." Rolee said helplessly. "All I know about dying is that it's a natural process the Ellimist wishes he could reverse for His Creations, the Pemalites, and that Their Creations, we Chee, are immune to it."  
  
"But..." This didn't make sense. But, to me, with my superior thinking and learning processes, it was beginning to. "Rolee, food growth is a natural process, right?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
I looked up at him, forcing my realizations to get through. I didn't want to say it. Or I wanted to say it, and have him shoot it down. Shoot! Oh, what a terrible word!  
  
"But, we have... artificial ways of growing it, right?"  
  
"By the Fabled Wings..." Lubis uttered, having listened to the whole conversation. That was something I'd never heard him say; an oath. It was fabled the Ellimist had wings at some point. "Sen, I did too well with you."  
  
"What is it?" Rolee asked, not quite getting it. "What is it?"  
  
"Artificial death!" He looked ill. "They're causing things to die artificially! Unnaturally!"  
  
By now, everyone in the vicinity had heard our conversation.  
  
"Ludicrous!"  
  
"Absurd!"  
  
"Madness!" Dalmshun cried. "It makes no sense! Why would anyone cause death?"  
  
The Great Dane was still on the ground. The Howlers hadn't moved. Their beautifully blank, disgustingly dead eyes circled around... they appeared to have 360 degree vision. They were looking at us all, I realized. Like... like... like they wanted to... harm us? But why? How? I had never wanted to harm anyone in all my years.  
  
Dach and Niomee were a hair's width from the Howlers, and certainly looked as confused as we felt. Dach's wide eyes were jumping from the Dane to the Howlers, and back again. Finally, she braved their 'weapons' and knelt beside our Leader.  
  
Her paws pressed lightly against various parts of his torso, trying to get a feel for one of a Pemalite's three hearts.  
  
By the expression on her face, she had no luck.  
  
Dach looked toward the Howlers, fear and realization beginning to replace that familiar confusion.  
  
"What," she began, her gentle voice taking on a parental tone, "have you done? Please, dear friends, explain the... reason... for this..." She struggled for a word. What word could describe causing... forcing!... people to die? What kind of primitive race could even conceive such a thing?  
  
"Killing," the lead Howler supplied. An alien word for a barbaric, alien concept. It sounded ugly. "We will kill all of you."  
  
Dach stood bravely before them, all alone. "But why?" she pleaded, but with a great force I had never heard from her. Her sweet voice rang out like a large bell, piercing the listening organs of everyone around. Her strength was more than parental, in that moment. It was nothing like I had ever heard before.  
  
And I was never given the privilege of hearing it again.  
  
One of the secondary Howlers drew his 'weapon' again. He leveled it at Dach's breast, and she simply stood there, blinking, with no idea what to do.  
  
He pulled the trigger, and her scream pierced the heavens.  
  
Pandemonium broke out, everyone was yelling and screaming for Dach and the Great Dane, everyone was confused, no one knew what to do...  
  
Niomee! Rolee and I though of her at the same time, we both began scanning the crowd, looking for her. We spotted her still near the Howlers, who were simply leering at all of us. She was shock-still, staring at the bodies of the Great Dane and Dach. Her blank eyes, for once, spoke volumes. She looked lost, like anyone, but maybe a little more so. Her creator and dearest friend lay there, artificially... killed... was the Howler's word.  
  
"She needs us," Rolee murmured. He gripped my arm. "Listen to me, Sendo, and listen well. Take Camis and Lubis, leave. Flee. As far as you can. Niomee and I will join you as soon as possible."  
  
I gripped him back, eyes riveted to Camis, staring at where his mother lay, horror glowing in his golden eyes. Glowing like the red sun as it fought the gold one for the honor of setting first. "Ellimist willing," I snapped at him, too frustrated to be kind. "How will you find us?"  
  
"GLO."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Global Locating Operations. Now go!"  
  
We split; I snatching Camis and Lubis by their paws, and Rolee sneaking his way through the panickin crowd. I could see some of the quicker Chee and Pemalite citizens edging out of the crowd, attempting to escape.  
  
Others, I could hear them speaking. Talking about how it was a misunderstanding, that these aliens must be ill. We could cure them and all would be fine. It was an accident.  
  
Anything was possible, in the minds of the Pemalites, except for the reality.  
  
Dach, the world's greatest scientist, and the Great Dane had been... killed... for no logical reason.  
  
And if that Howler on the far left lifting his 'weapon' and aiming it towards a young Pemalite I recognized as a local pathologist, meant what I thought it did, they would not be the last.  
  
----- Credit CrypticIdentity for this chapter coming out so soon. Also, my recent one-shot, Checkmate, is in the same continuance as this story. It'll give a little background for upcoming chapters. 


	9. Shock

The Chee Chronicles: Chapter Eight: Shock  
  
Casting one last glance at Rolee and Niomee, I nudged Lubis. "Let's go."   
  
Onanee and Malon followed my lead. Malon wrapped her arms around Labra and picked her up. I think Labra was in shock; her body looked stiff and she didn't blink. Her ears didn't even twitch, the way Labra's usually did.   
  
Lubis shook his head, trying to clear it. "Yes, that would be best. Yes, yes, it would…"   
  
He was also in shock. I felt like going into shock myself, just lying down and letting everything overwhelm me.   
  
But I could not. If I did… I chanced one more look at the Howlers. They were taking turns, firing their weapons. Every time a shot rang through our peaceful realm, a Pemalite or even a Chee fell. Enhancing my vision best I could, in the distance I could tell that victims already included Chee-Dano and Pemalite-Pekkinez, the famous singer and marimachee player. Dano had been blown clean apart; one of his arms was about a foot away from his foot, which was a yard away from the rest of his body… augh! It hurt to see, I had to get out of here!  
  
I turned back to Camis and Lubis. "We have to go," I urged. "Back home, we need to go back home…"  
  
"No," Camis whimpered. "No, we have to get Mama…"   
  
"We can't." I turned to pleading. "Please, we can't be hurt, too…"  
  
"Sendo is right, my little son," Lubis said suddenly. He wrapped an arm around Camis, and pulled the child to him. Camis buried his muzzled in his father's fur, and hugged him tightly.   
  
I felt… out of place. Part of me wanted to hug Lubis, too, because I loved Dach… yes, I did love her, machine or not… as much as any of them. But the other part of me knew I wasn't her child.   
  
I wanted Rolee and Niomee right then. I wanted them very badly.  
  
And I hated to break up the gentle scene before me, but I had no choice. I had a feeling we were running out of time. My mind was whirling like a spinner gig, one of those crazy toys Lubis invented specifically for the Fairplay.   
  
I nudged the two Pemalites again. "We have to GO," I said forcefully. Never mind the broken look Camis gave me. Ignore the wounded look in Lubis's eyes. Ignore it, forget it, don't think about it, just go go go gogogogogogo…  
  
---  
  
Onanee was standing in front of me.   
  
I was glad. Onanee.  
  
She was interfacing with me. I realized that. I could feel her sparks running through my brain-computer, connecting with my cryscom…  
  
"Wake UP," she said worriedly. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Malon and Rolee, and Camis behind Rolee. I wondered why they were staring me.  
  
Belatedly I realized something interesting: Onanee was not in front of me, she was above me. Interesting.  
  
Onanee. Onanee.   
  
"Wake up!" she cried again.  
  
I reached up for Onanee… I felt her grip the paw I offered.  
  
That was enough. Onanee.  
  
---  
  
I rebooted. I opened my eyes, and looked around. A gaggle of Chee and Pemalites had gathered here in… wherever we were.   
  
I sat up, to see Onanee still sitting there. Her blank eyes showed nothing, but her voice said it all when she yelled my name. I was understandably shocked to see her so emotional. I was even more shocked to hear Camis and Niomee's similar reactions.  
  
About the only thing that didn't shock was Rolee standing a ways off, gaze shifting from me on the ground to Lubis up a Bureikaj Tree. He was sitting in the green part of the tree, but pulling silver pieces off of it, and tossing it to the ground. Why…?  
  
Dach, my perfect memory informed me. Dach-mama. Weapons. Howlers. Artificial death. "Killing."  
  
I gently pushed Onanee and Niomee back from me. I was getting crowded.  
  
"What happened?" I asked furiously. Not furious as in angry.   
  
Onanee looked me straight in the eye. Stared at me ad blankly as it was possible to. Finally a bare smile tweaked her metallic muzzle.  
  
"Sen… What's the last thing you remember?"  
  
I blinked. "We had to go. That's it."  
  
"I see…"   
  
Her voice enveloped me, as it described what had happened. How I had hurried Lubis and Camis out of the crowd. How Malon and Onanee had followed with Labra and Coli. Half way there, or actually, to here, where we were sitting as we spoke, sparks had begun to fly. Malon had shut me down, and Onanee, Rolee and Niomee had spent the last few hours trying to reboot me… That was where the hazy dream of Onanee came from. But it probably wasn't a dream. I had probably been mildly restored, just running my most basic programs.   
  
Onanee wasn't speaking anymore, I realized. I looked at her. Her bare smile was there. Camis was there, too. His chest was still; not moving up and down to breathe. I panicked at that, and moved to call for Rolee…  
  
He was focused on Lubis up in the tree. Focused; not turning to look at me as he had been.   
  
Lubis was in the tree. Paws closed around a silver branch. The previous one had had just dropped… was suspended… in mid-air…  
  
I jumped up, to look at the frozen world. Nothing moved. No one breathed.  
  
Had the Howlers caused them all to artificially die? Had they been… that awful, alien word they had used… 'killed?'   
  
Why were they frozen? What was going on?  
  
MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE. 


	10. Creator

The Chee Chronicles: Chapter Nine: Creator

MORE THAN YOU KNOW.

I must have jumped clear out of my programming. The world was frozen like winter, but without the laughter and cheer of my friends and loved ones playing in the fresh snow… My friends and loved ones were frozen like they had been… killed… Ah! Would that terrible, terrible word ever leave my conscience?

I'M AFRAID NOT, CHEE-SENDO.

There it was again! A strange… voice, I suppose is the best word for it. But it was so much more than that! On one level, I swear I heard the words, but on another, they just popped into my brain, as if they had been uploaded by Dach as she did my yearly maintenance checks… Dach!

My memory betrayed me, her scream piercing my mind…

YOU MUST LEARN TO OVERCOME BAD MEMORIES.

"How so?" I demanded. Asking disembodied 'voices' for advice… Not your brightest move, Sen.

IT'S NOT SOMETHING I CAN EXPLAIN JUST YET.

"Oh?"

THERE IS A VERY EASY WAY, HOWEVER.

"Sounds lovely."

YOU ARE A VERY SARCASTIC PERSON, AREN'T YOU?

"It's not my fault," I explained to the 'voice.' "I'm an android; blame my programmer. He's sitting like death in that tree over there…" I recoiled; there it is.

THE EASIEST WAY TO FORGET SOMETHING, MY DEAR SENDO, IS BY KEEPING BUSY.

"Doing what?" I asked curiously. It didn't occur to me to be suspicious, but maybe I should have. I suppose the Howlers, with all their shock and pain still needed time to settle before I could fully grasp the reality.

CHEE-SENDO, DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?

"A disembodied voice?" I asked smartly.

CHA. CHA. CHA. YOU ARE QUITE AMUSING, CHEE-SENDO.

"I try. I try."

About right then is when my brain began to function properly. It began to process the world around me for the first time since the Great Dane had been killed. It began to ask logical questions, like "Who is this voice?" "What does it want?" "Is it the one who froze the world?" And, most importantly, "Why in the name of Ellimist am I joking around with it like we're playing Laughter Ball?"

BECAUSE THE ELLIMIST IS ENJOYING THIS EXCHANGE IMMENSELY.

Of course, just because my brain was realizing these things doesn't mean I was listening to it. Everyone—androids and biologicals alike—have a bad habit of not listening to their brains in these types of situations. Which makes us all very, very stupid. Of course, the most ironic thing is, when you're sitting on the outside, it's easy to notice these things. But when you are in these same situations and your brain is proving its clear superiority over the rest of your body/systems, it's really, really easy to ignore it.

I think my brain had figured out who the mysterious disembodied voice was. My brain was a storehouse for legends and folklore. I thought that if I ever met an alien species, I would want to be highly educated about the Pemalites and Chee so that I could swap information. If I could teach some as of yet undiscovered culture about my own, they would be that much more likely to take me to their homeworld and teach me in return.

So I knew all of the fables and fairytales we told of our Creation, and the Creation of the Creators. I knew that the Ellimist had supposedly created the Pemalites partly through a chemical reaction, partly through gene splicing, and partly through the wish to make the universe a better place. I knew he had blessed them with superior technological prowess, and by giving them knowledge of the technology possible, gave them a leg up over every other species in the galaxy. I knew he charged them with the sacred task of spreading life throughout the galaxy… I knew all of this junk, and more.

I knew how he supposedly appeared before them, as a voice or a large pink tree or many other incarnations… I knew, I did…

YOU KNOW A GREAT DEAL, CHEE-SENDO. TELL ME, DO YOU YET KNOW WHO I AM?

I did. Oh, my Ellimist, I did.

"You… are the Ellimist."

But why?

BECAUSE YOU HAVE A GREAT NEED, CHEE-SENDO. AND SO DO I. I THINK YOU MAY BE ABLE TO HELP ME. IN TURN, I SHALL HELP YOU.

"What sort of help do you need?" I asked. Ellimist, this was not happening. In the Ellimist's name… By the Fabled Wings…

DEAR SENDO, I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU WOULD NOT TAKE MY NAME IN VAIN.

"Sorry."

I'M SURE.

"So…" I looked around. "I'm sorry, Ellimist, sir, but this whole talking to a voice in my head…"

IT DISTURBS YOU, DOES IT? SHALL I TAKE A PHYSICAL FORM?

Did I just make demands of the Ellimist? I asked myself. Did I just make demands of my creators' creator, the veritable GOD of the Pemalites…?

YOU DID, BUT IT IS OF NO CONSEQUENCE TO ME.

I wondered briefly if it would be of consequence for him to stop listening to my thoughts… But I chose not to voice this, nor did he answer.

You know, when you watch plays or holograms about mystical beings or gods, and they appear before a mere mortal, there's sometimes flashing lights and thunder and grand symphonies of sound, ringing out with the glory of the being's supreme might and utter greatness. The mere mortal falls to their knees, afraid of looking upon That Which Man Must Never See. The loud, booming voice of the almighty deity envelopes the land, and he reassures his creation that all is well, and the mortal goes on to perform great deeds in name of their deity, all faith restored…

Yeah. Right.

There was no great sounds or flashing lights. One minute, I was speaking to nothing, the next minute I spied a bit of movement off to my left. A Pemalite girl that lived a few patches away from us stirred. She had been playing a game of jumping and back flips with her Chee…A Cheenamed Sheeree. I recognized her… She had come to get her motion centers repaired last week… Sheeree had never mentioned the name of her Pemachee.

Sheeree's Pemachee stepped away from where she had sat, waiting for her Chee to jump. And as she did… I blinked, wondering if my eyes were malfunctioning. It had happened once… Because the Pemalite girl was walking towards me, and sitting still all at once…

The girl laughed softly. Not the loud, hearty 'CHUK CHUK CHUK' sound I had come to associate with laughter, but a trilling 'reereeree' that sounded something like a bird. She stopped her weird laughter after a moment and looked at me.

"Dear Sendo, do you like this form better?" she asked. "Do you still fear me, when I am like this?"

"I do not fear you."

"Yes, Chee-Sendo, yes, you do." A slow, amused smile spread across the furry little face, her bright yellow eyes shone. Like Camis's. "And I know why you fear me, Sendo. You fear me because, now, it is all you can do."

"Is that so?"

"It is indeed. Your world is beginning to break apart, is it not? Everything you once knew, once believed is being shattered. Your world will never be the same. You will never be the same… and neither will your friends."

It was difficult to dispute her… the Ellimist's… logic. To die, to die, was already alien to me. Machines don't die. Sometimes, sure, we break down. Just last week, Chee-Reeko had come into Lubis's office, dragged in by a few of his neighbors. Something was wrong… His cryscom had been damaged somehow. Chipped in a few places. Not even Pemalite crystals were indestructible.

But Lubis had fixed him. He recovered the chipped pieces from inside Reeko's metal skull. He hooked Reeko's crystal up to a brand-new one and transferred all of the data into it. The new crystal computer was planted inside Reeko. He was as good as new.

No matter what ailment befell us, Lubis and Bermez could fix it. No matter what was damaged, no matter what wasn't working right, we would never die, because we could be fixed. My creators had the spare parts, the knowledge, and a _love_ for their creations so deep that all we had to do was present ourselves before them, and we knew we would be fine.

For the love of everything, anything around me, when I first saw Chee-Dano lying there, in pieces like Camis's pockecom after he tried to download the latest Pekkinez song, my very first instinct had been to point it out to Lubis!

But Lubis couldn't fix death. He worked with machines, not biologicals. And even the doctors, what Niomee had called a biological's mechanic, could not fix death.

My core beliefs were destroyed… Yes. Yes, I was scared.

So the Ellimist knew this. I didn't have to say it. The Ellimist knew all, saw all, heard all. I was standing before the most awesome power in the history of the universe.

"There are Those who are Greater than I, little Chee," the Ellimist interrupted. "But I think we, or, rather, you, are veering quite far off course. Your thoughts are flying very rapidly."

"What did you expect?" I asked "her." "What _is_ the course?"

"The course, Sendo, is simple. You need to push what is happening to you out of your mind. I need a favor. Our needs collide. My favor will keep you very, very busy, and being busy, I have found, is the best way to keep bad memories at bay."

"But it will only be temporary," I realized suddenly. "My reprieve will only be temporary."

The Ellimist nodded. "This is true. But my favor will only satisfy me for a short time. Once it is done, I will be back to devising strategies to defeat my foe." A sly, all-knowing smile. "Do you know of whom I speak, dear Sendo?"

Every religion has a central deity or spirit or force. And in cultures that recognize a distinction between 'good' and 'evil,' the central figure is Good. Now, in these same black-and-white societies, the central figure usually has a rival.

If the central figure is Good, then, logically, their rival is Evil.

Mine was such a culture. The central deity, the great creator, the universe's main force of good, was the Ellimist.

His rival was Crayak.

The folklore and legends I had collected over the years resurfaced. Crayak was an incomprehensible being. He liked fun and games as much as we did, but his idea of fun and games was pain. And suffering.

And now, I wondered, perhaps he also enjoyed the artificial death? The killing?

This was why our scientists and historians and anthropologists concluded that he was, in fact, real. How could early Pemalites invent a being which they have no chance of understanding? Cultures invent religions and gods and myths to explain things. Why it rains, why the sky is this color, why women are the ones who give birth…

Why biologicals must die.

The legends of Crayak stated that the Pemalites must die when they are old because the never-ending game between him and the Ellimist, the never-ending game of Good versus Evil must always be fresh. As you replace an old toy, so too must the Ellimist and Crayak replace their toys.

_Us. _We are the toys, I realized with horror. Sure, I had been preached to my entire life about these things. The Ellimist, the great good, is always at work against Crayak, the great evil. I must always be good and never tempted by Crayak, I must not give in, I must sit quietly in my allocated space-time location and forever be bent to the will of the Supreme Being…

But you know, it's one thing to sit through a religious service and listen to that. I can pay no attention at all and still recall it perfectly later, with my perfect computer memory.

And it is an entirely different experience to be confronted with that fact as a truth… To be _slapped _with that fact as truth, to have it rammed into your skull and made clearer, clearer than midday, with both suns glowing, with all the lamps on, staring at a lit computer screen while holding a hand-light…

Some may rethink their faith. Me? I was on autopilot, still shell-shocked from my eventful day… And it had only been a day. But I, while I was mainly running programmed routines; I was still thinking clearly enough to realize that I was in a very, very bad situation.

But hey, how could it get any worse?


	11. Wild

Blink and you'll miss it, but there's a brief reference to my fic 'Playing Pieces' in here. Rereading it, and possibly my other Ellimist fics, 'Checkmate' and 'Emotional Blackmail,' might help your comprehension of certain, finer points here. That Ellimist is a tricky son-gun. I'm sure I've noted that they're all in continuity with this fic.

Also in regards to that reference—I'm working off the idea that the Ellimist, the Drode and Crayak can look into and influence the future (they're every when), but after a certain point, especially if it affects the outcome of their game, they can't quite call it for certain.

The Chee Chronicles: Chapter Ten: Wild

The Ellimist, in the form of a little Pemalite girl, smiled serenely. "So. You will help me?"

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" I answered. "Nothing's going on here," I added, looking around. No one, save the Ellimist and myself, had stirred yet. No one spoke, no one breathed… I couldn't hear the soft clangs as the gears inside my fellow Chee worked. It unnerved me.

"All right, then," said the pretend Pemalite.

And once he spoke that final syllable, I felt myself… removed. Detached. I was plucked up from my proper location in space-time, I felt, and the world began to spin and twirl and run and a million things…

But as the sensation persisted, I realized that it was not the world running around me, but the individual threads that make up the world. It was as if I was sitting outside of space-time; I could see forever in all directions, I could see beyond infinity, I realized. Blue, four-eyed quadrupeds and reptilian, bladed creatures were in one direction, and my dear friends, the gray, furry Pemalites in another. But I turned away from those glorious sights, in all times and directions.

Instead, I looked at myself, but even while I looked at that Chee designated 'Sendo,' with his triangular plates of silvery sutiiru, a purely Pemalite alloy, and whitecap, interlocking a thousand times into a torso, legs, arms and paws, crowned off with a head, that Sendo was looking at another Sendo, who was looking at another Sendo…

And as this paradox went on and on, at the same time, I could see so much more. Looking at myself looking at myself, I saw what was beyond the sutiiru and whitecap, I saw the circuitry and the crystal computer, with the algorithms that spelled everything I am, was, and ever will be. I saw every bit of coding Dach had formulated, and every tweak Lubis had made to change the programming from Niomee into me.

And I saw this a million, million times! Over and over and over! I could see what I was doing while seeing what I was doing!

"Is this the power you have, Ellimist?"someone wondered. And it was not I.

But the Ellimist was not disturbed. He was no longer a juvenile Pemalite, but a _something_, a something that appeared beyond my mortal, mechanical comprehension. Light and darkness in equal measures, biological and mechanical in some strange sense, physical and ghostly all at once.

A god.

"Oh, no, oh, no," cackled the mysterious someone. "This old fool? Toomin? A god? Don't make me laugh!"

I don't know how I knew, I don't know how it was possible for a disembodied mass (was he mass? Was he matter?) to do so, but I felt that the Ellimist turned to this mysterious someone, and he smiled. _Smiled_, at this rude, pretentious being.

"Oh, Drode," said he, speaking verbally, as this 'Drode' did. "You mustn't tease him. He does not have your grand perspective."

"Better gain it soon, though, huh?" answered the creature. He came into focus then, became visible. A reptilian creature, with wrinkled skin, balanced on a tail. His eyes were intelligent, but mocking, and ringed with bright green. His arms seemed to be good for little more than waving in the air.

"Not necessarily. Unlike your master, I do not feel the need to have a henchman present for me to cackle to." And then that sensation of him turning to me, facing me. "Chee-Sendo, this is the Drode," he introduced. "My favor will put you against him."

"Against?" I repeated. "Like in a game?"

The Drode laughed. "A game!" he chortled. "How wonderful, to be so right and yet so wrong at the same time! I love it!" He clapped his thin little hands. "Yes, yes, you silly little robot--"

"Android," I interrupted coolly. "I am an android, a machine designed to resemble a lifeform. Not a robot."

"Oh, boo-hoo," sneered the Drode. "An _android_, wow. I've been told."

"It is a valid distinction," the Ellimist said mildly.

"It is not," the Drode contradicted. He turned to me, a mocking smile beaming at me cheerfully. "Robot, android, cyborg—all are equally flawed. All are created by mortals, or biologicals, as you say, little Chee." One wave of his useless arm, one taunting cackle. "Your biological creators, your masters—old Toomin here did his best to make them perfect."

"And succeeded!" I snapped. I don't know why. Obviously this little creature serves Crayak. Obviously Crayak is the equal of the Ellimist. Obviously Crayak can imbue the Drode with the power to destroy me utterly, from the inside out, from the past to the future.

But the Drode merely looked at me pityingly. "Dear, dear Sendo"—I was really getting tired of being called that—"Is that computer in your head malfunctioning?" The Drode had fixed his voice to be syrupy sweet, sticky… ensnaring, if I wasn't careful. "Weren't you watching the Howlers today? Surely, if your mistress was perfect, your dear, sweet, Dach, loving to you as a mother would be, she wouldn't have been killed. Hm?"

He didn't stop there. "As they are flawed, so you are more flawed! If the most Supreme Being in the universe--"

"Why, Drode!" the Ellimist interrupted with a steely smile. "I didn't know you cared."

"Shut up," the Drode said casually. He smirked triumphantly as he brought his point home. "If my master couldn't succeed with creating the perfect race, if his perfect weapons have a fatal flaw, so, surely, do the Ellimist's—the Pemalites. And if the Pemalites are flawed, so too must be their creations. If perfection can't duplicate itself, imperfection has no chance, wouldn't you agree?

"If perfection's creations—imperfection—are flawed, then wouldn't you agree it's reasonable that imperfection's creations are also flawed, in a proportion equal to flaws from perfection to imperfection? You are imperfection's creation, Chee-Sendo. What does that make you—other than helpless? A mistake? A walking, talking mess of circuitry and crystal, stuck in his allocated space-time location, stuck here with Toomin the Ellimist, who cannot help him or his masters when he so dearly wants to?"

"That will be enough of that," said the Ellimist. "There is still the matter of my favor."

The Drode looked at me critically. "Am I done, then?"

"Apparently."

"Lovely. Well, then, I have one more thing to say, Ere—I mean, Chee-Sendo." He smirked. "Do not let the bear sleep."

"Oh, come now, that's cheating. Not to mention you're confusing him."

He certainly was; what on Pema was a bear?

The Drode pretended to consider that. "I suppose so. I haven't checked the score in some time, but Arbron was losing quite spectacularly last I did. My warning may be entirely invalid. It is hard to say…"

With that, he was gone. No flashing lights, no sound effects; one minute there was the Drode, the next there was none.


	12. Side Story: And Does Everything But Live

_**And Does Everything But Live**_

Seventy years have passed since I last visited Camis. Roughly. I could calculate the exact length of time, recall everything I was doing instead of visiting my friend, every second I spent not thinking about the virus, every second I spent searching desperately for the cure, but there aren't that many words in all the languages in the galaxy.

It doesn't seem like that long a time, and when he thaws, shivering and sick, still managing that smile for me, that smile that made me want to live, that smile that I try so hard to forget—his smile is still as perfect as a picture, both in my memory and in reality.

The routine is the same as it's been since he was first put into stasis. He wakes up and asks me how long it's been since we left Pema. I lie and tell him it's only been a few years—not a few millennia. The tilt of his head acknowledges my lie (he can read the data output on his berth as well as I can), and we make small talk until he asks about the cure. Ridiculous small talk. He asks about Rolee and Malon and Onanee (they're the same), what we've been doing (searching for the cure), have we stayed busy (we do nothing else), does Malon ever beat me in this or that game (we haven't played since leaving Pema), does Rolee still miss Niomee (as much as I miss you).

I think the reason I don't thaw him out more often is because I dread that question. I think he knows this, and this is why he stopped asking me to come back soon. Whenever I'm asked why I don't visit my friend more often, I reply that Camis is very young (he's over five thousand years old) and that I fear awakening him will awaken the virus. It's the truth, but it's not the whole truth.

Camis is still smiling. Weakly. The virus ravaged the Pemalites before we perfected our bio-stasis berths, and I wonder if leaving him frozen in sickness for all eternity is really preferable to artificial death. I wonder if Camis would prefer to die. I haven't asked him, and I won't; I lack both the means and ability to cause artificial death. My programming dictates that I must preserve life, natural, beautiful life, and it is my belief that this programming—this hell or high water, black or white programming that I can do nothing but follow—deserves the credit for our bio-stasis chambers.

I don't think biologicals would have been able to perfect it, with their organic limitations. But our limitation is that we have no limitations when it comes to the sanctity of life. If we hadn't perfected the bio-stasis chambers before the last of the Pemalites died—I don't know what would have happened, but it would have gone against our programming. Or maybe it wouldn't have; maybe our programming allows for when we're confronted with something that is purely impossible.

I don't know. We haven't reached that point. I hold Camis' paw and pray we never will. I can't imagine existing without this tiny, darling being I was created as a companion for.

I can almost feel his grip weakening, and I brace myself. It's coming. I know it is. He's going to ask me. I hate this moment. I want to shut down and freeze myself with him, be together in obliviousness, tell Rolee to thaw us and let us talk every few centuries or so, but I can't.

Camis smiles and yawns. He hugs me. I hug him back and wait.

He knocks his forehead against mine, and asks if Rolee will come to see him. He asks if Malon and Onanee will visit, too, and then may he please have a drink of water, and perhaps go back to sleep, before a coughing fit gets started.

He smiles, perfect, perfectly content, just as I remember, my same old Camis, and I fire off a mail to Rolee's cryscom, come see Camis, come see him before he dies like his parents have, like our Niomee has.

Come and let us be a family before I freeze him again, freeze him for another seventy or eighty or hundred thousand years. He knows I'll never find the cure, knows that he's going to die and leave me one day, and he doesn't want to torture me until then.

I have lasted thousands of years. I will last thousands more.

I will always remember the night Camis stopped asking me if he would get better.

My Camis has given up on me.

…

Some credit where credit is due—

Erekfic/Cheechron side story inspired by a couple posts by an Erek roleplayer on the livejournal community dear_mun, which was brought to my attention by Felinephoenix. Erek interacting with Ax and Marco _and_ it's not in my head? Or something I've already read? Yes, please!

The bits about believing in the cure came into my head via _Turnabout_, by Margaret Petersen Haddix.

The title is shamelessly lifted from the directions/advertisement for Tik-Tok, the Clockwork Man, from L. Frank Baum's Oz books. I am secretly convinced that Baum was Erek and Tik-Tok is his Author Avatar. It's my first literary allusion title, and I am so proud of my kiddie pool of children's book references here.

As for Cheechron itself—Erek angsting over popsicle!Camis has always been a tentatively planned scene in there, but it was actually going to be a scene. A scene in which Camis acts adorable and makes you want to kill me for killing him. You'll have to settle for the angst without the cute.

And about the Drode—uhh. I need to think of some way for him to compete with Erek—I have the rest of the story pretty much planned out after that. Sorry…? _I did not think this one through. _XD


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